The Adhesives Design Toolkit is an internet-based resource. Its primary aim is to assist end-users when using and designing with adhesives.
Prior to the Toolkit, various discrete software packages existed that addressed a range of areas such as adhesive selection, quality control, stress analysis, case histories, etc. However, they were not integrated and the formats were incompatible with respect to data transfer. The result is that adhesives are often not utilised to their full potential and the performance and cost savings that might be obtained though using adhesives are lost.
The UK government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) funded a two-year project entitled Towards an Adhesives Design Toolkit (started in April 2002) through the Materials Metrology Systems (MMS) programme suite. Its development has been a collaboration between UK organisations TWI, NPL, AEA Technology (now ESR Technology) and MERL. Modules developed for the first phase of this project were:
- Supplier selector
- Case history database
- Stress analysis (coaxial and single lap shear)
- Design guidance
- Adhesive selector.
A second phase involving the same collaborative partners subsequently enabled three more modules to be developed:
- Standards
- Design, preparation and testing
- Forensic assessment
Additional modules are planned as and when more funding becomes available.
For further information please visit the Toolkit website.
Further information
For assistance with this technology please contact us.